The How I Discovered _____ Thread

[BanFan]

Since it's always fun to know the ways people discovered their favorite artists, describe some of the ways you discovered them...

Some of mine:

the brilliant green:I just happened to be browsing Nanokiero.com, when I came across the Forever to Me PV, with the description that said recommmened for DAI fans, so I watched it, and fell in love, but all I have is the Winter Album though I love it!

The Inuyasha Discoveries:From the Inuyasha Openings/Ending I found the following artists, and the following songs, thanks Inuyasha!:
Do As Infinity-Fukai Mori
Ayumi Hamasaki-No more words
Ayumi Hamasaki-Dearest
Every Little Thing-Grip!
BoA-Every Heart
Shimatani Hitomi-ANGELUS

Ai Otsuka:Over the summer I was bored and looking at the a-nation '04 site, and was curious about any artists I didn't know yet, so I clicked on the link for Ai Otsuka. At her site I went to the discography section and sampled Kingyo Hanabi and have loved her ever since then.

Utada Hikaru:The first song by her I heard was actually
"Simple and Clean" a long time ago, but I remembered her from being in the Kingdom Hearts soundtrack and discovered Sakura Drops!

[PSYCHEDELICOdust]

Hikaru Utada - Hikari

I'd been all OMG SQUARE! at the time so I randomly downloaded the theme for their upcoming game Kingdom Hearts and bam! I <3'd it.

LOVE PSYCHEDELICO - LOVE PSYCHEDELICO III (album)

I downloaded it on a whim cause I thought the band had a nifty name and a cool cover art concept and found my fave band of all time in the process.

Shiina Ringo - Identity (the PV)

I downloaded it on account you (BanFan) had been all raving about it, and then I was all raving about too XD

[kristen]

Inuyasha: Twas a saturday night, and i was staying up flipping through channels when i saw the show. I fell in love with the ending song (My Will), and decided to just watch the show so i could hear that. When i saw episode 13 i fell in love with it and from then kept watching it.

Ayumi Hamasaki: after watching inuyasha and falling in love with My Will i downloaded midis of the songs and fell IN LOVE with the Dearest one. It was just awesome. I went to my dads the following summer and downloaded mp3s of it and from then got into ayu's music.

Hikaru Utada: one of my friends was in love with her, but i personally never had heard her. So when i visited a mp3 rotation and saw her mp3 "Colors" for download, i didn't hesitate. Colors is my favorite song out of ALL the jpop i own now.

Gackt: I heard about him through one of the online tcgs. I didn't know what he sounded like, so when i saw his song "Tsuki no Uta" on a mp3 rotation i downloaded it. Didn't really love him until i heard "Last Song".

Namie Amuro: I'm a huge inuyasha freak when i found out her song "Come" was one of the new endings i downloaded it and loved it.

[elepop]

AYUMI HAMASAKI:

By this site: http://hamazaki.net

[~K+]

Good thread, 5 stars.

Some parts made not make alot of sense since I didn't proof read it and it was rushed.

Chihiro Onitsuka
I knew that 'infection' was quite a hit when it came out and I heard it then and loved it. Later on I heard other songs like 'Dining Chicken', 'Sign' and such, though they didn't caught my attention much, and I just forgot about her. Over 2 years later, I heard Ryuseigun from downloading the PV at Aznpop and loved it, I also got to hear Gekkou which I loved, and by then my tastes have matured alot compared to when I first heard 'infection' and with all the raving here from luminaire etc, I went and picked up 'Sugar high' from the local store which has been sitting on the shelves forever and absolutely loved it.

the Brilliant Green
One of the names I've just recognise before I have even heard their music. A drama/movie was on TV with the song (the song was playing in the ending, where a couple was at a beach), and from what I heard I loved it instantly. I saw the name "the Brilliant Green" in the credits but couldn't read the song title fast enough (it was in Japanese). The next day I went on WinMX and searched for tbg, and amongst the song titles, I thought 'Angel song' sounded pretty cool so I gave that a shot and got the song I was looking for! (The same thing happened with Ayu's 'appears', I got the right song at the pick of the hat)

After that, I checked out a few songs which I didn't find too memorable until several years later when my tastes matured more and when BrightLight recommended "Hello Another Way", and when all 4 albums were uploaded to Jpopmusic tracker.

LOVE PSYCHEDELICO
My cousin from HK recommended them to me back in 2001 (I think), and didn't think much of it because I couldn't find anything by them. Until jpmp3.com (back when I still used it, damn the spyware) had LOVE PSYCHEDELICO III, I DLed it and didn't think much of it until my tastes matured.

CORE OF SOUL
Someone here uploaded 'November rain' and 'Trash the pride', I gave them a try and loved 'November rain' to pieces. I then read more about them at 'Project J'. I found their 'RAINBOW' album on a tracker later on and loved every part of it, especially songs like 'Saint Darkness' and such, I've yet to have gotten the mini-album, but will do so once I find a job.

Mika Nakashima
Back in the days (probably 2001) when there was a forum called AyuDesign forum, a member called James always posted about her new release information (I particularly remember the 'Helpless rain' cover). I eventually downloaded WILL (after 'TRUE' came out, and because the cover was so sexy and mesmerizing, I gave it a try) and loved her voice and the song. Later on I got the chance to download the WILL and ONE SURVIVE PV (On a 56k dial-up...) and was in awe when I saw the WILL PV. And when FIND THE WAY came out I contemplated about purchasing the single, though when 'Yuki no hana' was released, both the song and the cover was too alluring to pass up, which became the first Mika CD I brought. After I brought LOVE, she has definately rose many positions in my books.

Hitomi Yaida
I first saw a snippet of her "I'm here saying nothing" PV on TV talking about the success of her 'Candelize' album. James from AyuDesign quite a fan of Yaiko and was saying how i/flancy has been inside his CD player for ages. I eventually to hear ANDANTE and My Sweet Darlin' which I love. But when a particular channel here showed her 'Music Pool 2002 live', it was that that blew me away completely. Her live singing, personality, and energy with just her band and guitar without the need of any fancy costumes or props was enough to put on an excellent show.

[Brittany]

Mika Nakashima -- A friend of mine that is an exchange student from Japan allowed me to borrow her two Mika CD's. I was not very fond of "True," but when I popped in "Love," I immediately fell in love with her voice. The song "Yuki no Hana," really stuck to me quickly, the same with "Aishiteru."

Hyde -- Someone had links up to his 666 album in 2003 to download. I was curious and as well as bored and downlaoded the songs and burned 'em. I didn't listen to the songs before burning them, hahaha. But when I put it in my CD player, wow, I was blown away and

[Findlay]

Mr.Children
For a long time I've heard that they're very popular (especially from the fan girls in my class who love Sakurai-san to death); however, I wasn't introduced to MISUCHIRU's music until the summer of 2000 when I watched the drama "BUS STOP", and the song "NOT FOUND" was featured on it. I instantly fell in love with it and then went to CD store to pick up the single (that CD had occupied my walkman for ages). Later I bought more of their early hits like "Tomorrow never knows" and became a fan.

the brilliant green
I remember after I got ELT's "fragile / JIRENMA" single, and while I was about to leave the store, "Hello Another Way -sorezorenobasho-" was played which caught my attention, and I really liked it, so I asked the person who worked there who sang that song, and he told me it's a band called tbg. Since their "Los Angeles" album also happened to be released on that same day, I bought it out of curiosity; surprisingly I could listen to the whole album without skipping any track. Then a week later I made my second purchase, "TERRA2001" (though I had always thought that's their first album). Just got a chance to listen to "the brilliant green" recently, and ordered it off cdjapan.com.

Kuraki Mai
Heard "Stay by my side" and "Secret of my heart" from the radio and thought they sounded really good. My friend also talked about how she never appeared on TV show, and that her singing technique is quite like Utada's. Even after the fever is over, I still like her stuff.

ZONE
I've never been fond of girl group/band and thought they're just another one of those, but I was wrong; a friend sang "secret base ~kimigakuretamono~" in karaoke, and when it ended, she was crying. I felt I was also moved while listening to that kind of melody which is very beautiful in an indescribable way, and that's how I got into the talented ZONE.

Onitsuka Chihiro
"gekkou" was the first song I heard on TV, (it was a live, and she was barefooted if I remember correctly). I was immediately stunned and overwhelmed by such a powerful, mature, and impeccable vocal performance she displayed there; what shocked me even more was that when I checked her profile, I couldn't believe that she was only 20 (in 2000); I told myself that she has to be the second MISIA who can actually sing. For some reasons though, I think I had left the three singles in my home in Japan when I moved to the US and lost track of any update on her. Last year I re-discovered her along with Yaida Hitomi thanks to ~K+ and luminaire, and bought "Sugar High" with the single box.

As for Hitoto You, Moriyama Naotaro, Hirahara Ayaka, Hayashi Asuca, Hajime Chitose, and GARNET CROW, I found out about them from the Oricon rankings, and I also got to know Sasagawa Miwa by luminaire's recommendation. =)

[TeamAyu]

Here are some of my discoveries (I'll add more later)

Hamasaki Ayumi:
Well I was over at my cousin's one day and he downloaded a bunch of Asian Music Videos and he showed me 'evolution' and I just got hooked because she was totally rocking and the music video was just plain awesome and fun. He also showed me a video by a Chinese singer named Yuki Hsu and from then I got hooked on Yuki Hsu for like a while. Forgot about Ayumi until one really bored day and decided to download 'evolution', 'SEASONS', 'M', and 'Endless sorrow'. Became instantly hooked on all her songs and the rest is history.

Tackey & Tsubasa:
This is one of those "Inuyasha Discoveries", thanks Inuyasha for all your great JPop songs. Anyways I was once again really bored and decided to check what the latest theme song for Inuyasha was since they always had good intros and outro songs. The latest one was "One Day, One Dream" by Tackey & Tsubasa and I was instantly hooked on their voices and the catchy tune. later downloaded a performance of it on Pop Jam and became hooked on their music and also HOW ADORABLE THEY ARE! Been an avid T&T and Johnny's Ent. fan since, it is draining my money like crazy though...

Namie Amuro:
Well when I first heard Namie I really hated her music and did not see ANYTHING good about her, especially her TK stuff. Well wayyyy later I heard she had a new single out titled "Wishing on the same star" and I downloaded it because it had a gorgeous CD cover, low and behold and I fell in love with the GORGEOUS SONG! Then I forgot about her and rediscovered her when I downloaded a performance of her song 'NEVER END' and became crazily hooked on it. Then came 'Say The Word' and that dance song is so damn catchy. Forgot about her for a while and then came across her latest song 'shine more' and was hooked hooked hooked, I've been loving her ever since her real comeback. Her TK stuff is also really good now, my tastes have really changed since the beginning of my JPop experience.

Utada Hikaru:
Well this artist I also got introduced to by my cousin. He sent me the mp3 of her song 'First Love' and I could not believe how BEAUTIFUL IT WAS!! I absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVED IT! It totally melted my heart and everything about it was just beautiful. Then came 'Hikari' which we all love and the rest of her hits. I love most of her singles but her album tracks are pretty weak besides 'DEEP RIVER'. I use to really love her but now her music is really overrated and overplayed and that pretty much killed her for me. I still LOVE all her ballads to death though especially 'First Love' which I never get sick of. 'Final Distance' is also one which I can never get tired of along with 'DEEP RIVER'.

Onitsuka Chihiro:
This'll be my last one for the moment. I first came across her song 'Beautiful Fighter' in a live journal rotation site. I listened to it but was not very fond and thought wow this girl has a husky voice and this song has a crappy melody. Forgot about her like I did with most artist I now listen to. Later in the same rotation site I came across 'Cage' and totally forgot this was the same artist that sang 'Beautiful Fighter'. After listening to 'Cage' I was bought, that song is an absolute MASTERPIECE and was my favorite Oni song until I got my 'Sign' single and that just knocked me off my feet. After 'Cage' came 'Gekkou' and I have been addicted since, every single song of hers is absolutely GORGEOUS! and about 'Beautiful Fighter', I hated that song a lot when I first heard it and when I got the single I didn't enjoy it that much either. It was not until I got her PV collection and saw the AMAZING PV with Rocker Oni. This song totally owned the video and I fell in love with it and just loved the whole atmosphere of the song and everything about it! It is one of my favorites now and I cannot stop rocking to it along with 'Tiger in my love'. Ahh Onitsuka Chihiro one of my favorites! Love all her hits, really sad that she is so sick and hasn't released anything since 'Sodatsu Zasso' which was definitely different but also amazing.

Next update:
Nakashima Mika
Otsuka Ai
Kuraki Mai
BoA
Shimatani Hitomi
Every Little Thing

[kournikova]

me? discovered namie from put em up tv i just knew her when she sang put em up... ayumi from my friends offered me rainbow cd n i listened to it n i started falling in love.... ^^ utada for dling some songs of her ^^ n Do As infinity i knew since they sang Hiiragi... I fell in love n the last yaida is just the same.. but this is from Hitori Jenga ^^

[Jennie Mae]

AYUMI HAMASAKI
I was surfing Sailormoon websites, it was my obsession, looking for mp3s, and one site had a special section dedicated to Ayu mp3s, so I downloaded some just for fun and I was hooked immediately.
LOTS OF OTHER PEOPLE
From Kakeru's site: http://members.rogers.com/avcd-30050/ there's a whole section called The Other Side where there are lyrics from Do As Infinity, BoA, Utada Hikaru, Namie Amuro, Mika Nakashima, Ken Hirai, Rina Aiuchi, Every Little Thing... sooo many people. That's how I found them all.
INUYASHA
I slowly learned practically ALL of my favorite J-Pop people had a song in Inuyasha, and I was always curious to watch the show. Then I found that my sister had started buying the mangas, but stopped because she learned that the show is still going on and didn't want to spend money on a neverending series, so I snagged them from her and fell in love with the story. Then I borrowed the first DVD, and right when I heard V6's Change The World I knew that I would get a new J-Pop addiction. The show is great and the music is even better, I've burned all the songs onto one CD and it's probably my favorite CD of all time that isn't an Ayu CD!

[sxesven]

Great thread.

Ayu - Played Chrono Cross, loved the soundtrack, always skipped the vocal track when listening to it, then forgot to skip it one day, heard it, loved it, thought it was Jpop, ran a search on 'Jpop' on KaZaA, downloaded random songs, heard Ayu's, deleted all the other songs and downloaded every Ayu song I could find, crammed 33 of them onto a MiniDisc, listened to them non-stop for 2 months, bought the CDs.

Envy - Was browsing Epitonic.com and ended up on Envy's page, where I downloaded the one song on it and immediately fell in love with Envy's music. I then found only one other Envy song on the net in the months after that, until I found all their albums on DC++. Downloaded, adored, ordered one of their albums immediately.

Shiina Ringo - Was looking for some new Jpop and ended up on a website that had two songs for download - Tsumiki Asobi and Identity, both live. I loved them and searched for more Ringo music, which I eventually found. Fell in love with it, ordered all her CDs. Every time I play her stuff the realisation that Shiina Ringo is the greatest artist of all time just grows and grows. She just is. Wow. I'm talking exceptional musical genius here that is greater than any other thing out there.

[openingRUN]

ayumi hamasaki - i was surfing AOL profiles and found someone who i thought i would like, i don't know it was a weird feeling (we actually went out for 5 or so months afterwards and are still good friends) and i saw that they had ayumi hamasaki all over the place in their profile so i decided to download some because i wanted some conversation topic. so, i opened up napster (hah! remember those days?) and downloaded SURREAL... i heard the song and literally had physical reactions to the song and so i found both ayu and a very dear person to me in one shot.

utada hikaru - when i was in seventh grade, i found a TIME magazine article on international music and there was a massive article about hikki being the "japanese britney spears". once i had heard about ayu, i remembered hikki and decided to pick up her Deep River cd when i went to kinokuniya (sp?) in nyc.

shiina ringo - i had downloaded shuukyu from a random site and had only heard the first 15 seconds of so because it had scared me so much haha, and so one day i was browsing torrents on bunko.theppn and saw a performance of GIPS, and i was with a friend who also likes jpop so i said "hey, wanna see aREALLY SCARY SINGER?" so i downloaded it and was totally taken aback by her and now she is one of my favorite jpop artists.

the brilliant green - i thought the band name was cool so i downloaded "tsumetai hana" because i thought it was a funny name for a song. the rest is history. tbg also opened me up to tommy february6.

BoA - someone sent me "listen to my heart" in english as a joke because, let's face it, it's pretty funny. i thought she had potential, though, so i downloaded more and fell in love with her.

[TeamAyu]

Originally Posted by openingRUN

BoA - someone sent me "listen to my heart" in english as a joke because, let's face it, it's pretty funny. i thought she had potential, though, so i downloaded more and fell in love with her.

HAHAHAHA

[luminaire]

Nice thread. =)

Onitsuka Chihiro

There was this period of time where I was downloading songs quite randomly to sample, and it was around the release date of "Sign", in 2003, that I discovered Oni. "Sign" didn't leave a great impression on me at first - deleted the file after one listen. In August, "Beautiful Fighter" was released. Being curious, I downloaded it again, and thought it was quite all right. But "arashi ga oka" got me interested. Then I went back to download "Sign" and a few other songs, and "Sign" and "ryuuseigun" converted me into an Oni fan. The rest is history. =)

Sasagawa Miwa

My friend had Sasami's album on Soulseek the other time, around May last year. I never got around to downloading it. But her name got stuck in my mind, so I eventually got around to looking for her webpage, and I listened to sound samples. Then I wanted to download her album off my friend, but he no longer had it. But then I found her "kinmokusei/warai" single up for download. So I did, and was promptly blasted away. Have been a fan ever since.

Every Little Thing

One story that I can never get tired of telling. Aforementioned friend who had Sasami's album sent me ELT's "ai no kakera" in late 2002, I think. Listened to a little of it before deleting it as I didn't find the music very attractive. In 2003, however, they released "Grip!", and my curiosity got the better of me again. Like how it was with Oni, the A-side didn't get me; "yurayura" did. Didn't actually become a full-fledged fan until "mata ashita" though, thanks to a B-side (again): "ichinichi no hajimari ni...". But I've been loyal to Mocchi and Ikkun ever since. =)

the brilliant green

One of my later J-pop acquisitions. In 2003, I believe, my friend sent me "Rainy days never stays". And one song was all it took. Tomoko, quit doing your February6 thing already. ;_;

Nakashima Mika

I do believe it was one of those random MP3 things again in 2003. It was "FIND THE WAY", but I remember not being very impressed with it. Later on, I downloaded "Love Addict" from my friend, and was hooked by it instantly. I think "yuki no hana" was scheduled to be released in a few weeks after that.

ZONE

It was August last year that I began seeing their "H.A.N.A.B.I" single in the store. (Now I regret not having bought it when it was still available, bleah.) Friend sent me the song, and I thought it was quite good. "boku no tegami", however, threw me off, and I nearly lost interest in them if it were not for "sotsugyou".

Shiina Ringo/Tokyo Jihen

Friend sent me "mayonaka wa junketsu". I was totally floored by her creativity and ingenuity. That was in 2003. Then in 2004, news came that she was going to join Jihen. I was originally quite negative about it, but "gunjou biyori" and, more importantly, "sounan" proved me wrong.

And the obligatory...
Utada Hikaru

First J-pop artist, so she'll always have a little somewhere in my heart. My friend sent me one of her songs in 2002 - "hikari". I thought it was really pretty and all, but "SAKURA DROPS" was the one that hooked me in. Haven't been going back to her recently, but whenever I do I'm always quite satisfied. =)

[Mirai Noah]

Okay, here we go!

Ayumi Hamasaki - She was the very first J-Pop artist I got into. I was introduced to Ayumi's music through a friend of mine, about when A BEST came out. She's part Japanese and her cousins live in Japan. One of them loves Ayu, so they sent my friend a copy of A BEST. Anyway, my friend let me borrow the CD and I fell in love with Ayumi. So when I went to Japantown and bought myself a copy.

BoA - I first listened to BoA when a friend told me how awesome she was. At first I only listened to her Korean stuff, but then I saw her perform "LISTEN TO MY HEART" and "VALENTI" in Japanese on Hey! Hey! Hey!.

I actually discovered a lot of artists through Hey! Hey! Hey! It used to play on the international channel on Sundays. I'm sad that it's gone now. Anyway some of the artists I discovered where: Namie Amuro, Hitomi Shimatani, Ayaka Hirahara, and Rina Aiuchi.

Other times, I was introduced to artists through friends. Those include Gackt, Hikaru Utada, Asuca Hayashi, and Koda Kumi. I became a fan of T.M. Revolution and Nami Tamaki through Gundam SEED. And then I discovered some people at Avex's Website.

Yeah.

[leafyamazaki]

ayumi hamasaki
The condensed version:
Watching some random program on V-Chinese, "TO BE" played, video looked pretty and I was hooked.

Utada Hikaru
I was watching some random 'music video' program on V-Chinese (Channel V) and her 'First Love' promotion video played.

Koda Kumi
Her song 'COME WITH ME' was one of a few random downloads I made in 2003. I liked it, then found out she had two songs used for Final Fantasy X-2.

day after tomorrow
I actually didn't think I'd become a fan of theirs since when I saw an article featuring dat on Newtype USA I was like, "What kind of a band name is 'day after tomorrow'?," and just dismissed them. Then, while shopping I chanced upon their first full album, elements, and bought it. I was hooked immediately.

Noriko Sakai
A channel I used to watch, JET TV, used to play her "Aoi Usagi" promotion video.

Tamaki Nami
While reading Newtype USA again. It was a small feature on Gundam SEED. I was able to listen to her song, Believe, which was included on Tofu Records' first CD release, JPOP CD. At first I didn't like it, but then after a friend and I talked a bit, he mentioned getting Nami's album, Greeting. That made me want to try out her songs again. And that was it.

Mika Nakashima
It was back in 2001 I think. I was watching some random program on V-Chinese again when her "One Survive" promotion video came on. Something about the engrish in the song just made me want to find out who the singer was. Back then I really though it was Hitomi Shimatani, but then found out later that it wasn't when I accidentally browsed into Mika's site. ^^;;

Hitomi Shimatani
Yeah... I mistook her for Mika Nakashima. That's it. ^^;;

BoA
Once again, I was watching some random program on V-Chinese when "Amazing Kiss" played.

Do As Infinity
All I can remember was I was watching another random program on V-Chinese when "Tangerine Dream" played.

Crystal Kay
Hagane no Renkinjutsushi started it all.

COOL JOKE
Same as above.

Ai Otsuka
Bought her first album, LOVE PUNCH, on a whim after reading so much about her releases being on Oricon's daily/weekly charts.

[Blue_Dew]

haha this thread is interesting!

ayumi hamasaki

tt was back in 1999 i think and i was reading the papers about one of her album. It was said that her albums had a hypnotic effect. i was rather intrigued. I had 2 classmates back then that was rather in love with her. I listened to "appears" and got hooked. but my interest in ayu is and on and off affair. it depends on her album. I like "my story" pretty much but not her previous album "rainbow".

Mr. Children

My case would be the same as Brightlight. ^5 aha i watched Busstop and got so hooked on the ending song. felt that it was so appropriate for the show, and i always felt a heartwrenching sadness hearing the singer sing "not found... not found" haha i went online to search and realised it's sang by a group called Mr. Children. found this name rather interesting. Soon after that i went on to dl their other songs like Youthful days, birdcage and Sosei. Sugoi!!

Hyde + L'arc-en-ciel

my sister tapped the episode of "Music Station Superlive 2002" (?) and we were watching it. i was busy talking on the phone and was not really paying attention to this unknown guy, dressed in white and strumming a guitar on the tv until my sister rewinded the tape and insist that i watch it. i was so lost in that guy's dreamy eyes and deep charming vocals. I realised he was HYDE and that song he sang was EVERGREEN. i kept rewatching the tape. when i discovered he was 33 years old i was pretty shocked, but i still love him all the same. bought roentgen english album and as it was not enough, i decided to give his band "larc-en-ciel" a try and woo! i didn't regret ever since.

the rest like gackt, DAI, Namie and Ai otsuka are pretty much because of Music station and commercials on tv. not really that crazy over them

[extepan]

I have a story of how I discovered my (ex) favourite British band called The Sundays. It is on my website http://www.wong.ro/sundays.html

Now the sundays is inactive. they have only released 4 singles in the past 17 years!!!! So i guess I really shouldnt be complaining about ayu only releasing 3 singles a year. Their last single was 'Cry' which was released in 1997. I really want to hear from them!